Land purchase to be discussed by city, county

A special closed-door executive session between Lawrence city commissioners and Douglas County commissioners is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. today to discuss a possible real estate acquisition.

Althought the exact reason for the closed session has not yet been revealed, city and county leaders have been discussing possibly buying the former Farmland Industries site just east of Lawrence. Also, the city is in the process of making a major land purchase for a new sewer treatment plant south of the Wakarusa River.

The meeting will be at Fire Station No. 5, 1911 Stewart Ave. City commissioners will also have a study session to discuss the city budget at 7 p.m. at the fire station.

Even if they are discussing it, there are no approved (by the bankruptcy court) offers to take over this land, and there is absolutey no guarantee that the city and county won't eventually get stuck with some major clean-up costs even if a private company does get control of that land.

Is this in the new budget??? Or, has it been there all along, forcing our taxes to increase 2 mils ++++++?

This is not your thing, amigos. Don't be so presumptuous as to think that you can now safely restore contaminated ground. And for what purpose? So you can sell it for pennies to another one of your "buds"?

Let the private investors sink their money into that site, not the taxpayers.

More than I trust the city of Lawrence. Lawrence cannot even take care of its streets and sewers, and its code enforcement deparment, with four inspectors, only inspects 321 properties in 32 months. There is no way I would trust this crew to clean up Farmland.

Sorry, berserk, the track record of this crowd is to pay full price (or more) for land and sell it for a fraction of the cost to certain interested parties.....for the good of the community, of course.